Old Fella Advice 2: Wasted Effort is a Myth

As far as I am concerned there is no such thing as wasted effort!

Some people are lucky enough to figure out early on where they want to go in life. When one has the passion and interest, putting in one hundred percent effort is easier.

If you are yet to figure out what you want to do in life, my advice is to put in your best effort into whatever is in front of you in the present. Focus on going the extra mile when its not expected.

Studying: read as many books related to your subjects, as you can (don't be afraid to utilize your local library). Your efforts will pay dividends over time.

Working: learn the thing, do the thing, take it from someone who has held various jobs in their career you never know which skills and knowledge will assist you in a future job or even a personal project/hobby.

There is a noticeable difference between those who put in effort and those that do not. speaking from experience, several people I went to school with who were the top of their class, refused to put in effort over time and do this day are stuck in dead-end jobs or unemployed.

From experience working as a manager of people, effort can not be substituted. The nepotism of some managers aside, generally the people who put in the extra effort are the ones that stand out most and get promoted.

Getting into the habit of putting in your best effort is ideal training, when you discover the direction in life you want to head you have already set up good habits. Your personal expectation of yourself will be raised, and you can strive for greatness.

The untrained brain will always try and take the easy route, e.g. binging Netflix instead of studying, because it requires barely any effort. But compare the feeling you get when you have accomplished something at the end of the day opposed to if you have had a a easy day. Passive activities will make you feel good in the moment but will make you feel way worse by the end of the day and in the long run.

If you try and glide through life doing the bare minimum, you will end up exactly where you are right now, there will be no self improvement and stagnation in life will lead to unhappiness and unfulfillment.

I will leave you with a Thomas Edison quote "Genius is 1 percent inspiration, 99 percent perspiration", whatever you are perspiring on now, in 10 years time you will not regret building the skills/studying hard, you will however regret time wasted.